Tuesday, March 24, 2015

In the winter of his life, Hadriel Alighieri barters with the Angel of Death to find Sophia Paula, and confess his undying love. Hadriel retraces the steps of his life, beginning at an old abandoned church in Santa Lucia, where he followed her sixty years ago.

Their friendship blossoms in their youth, but when Hadriel confesses his feelings for Sophia, she is unable to reciprocate his affection. Sophia gives him a letter and bids him farewell before her family immigrates to America.

After his military service, Hadriel goes to America, and meets Celeste Williams, but after a night of lingering on the shores of passion, Celeste flees.

Over the years, Hadriel and Sophia maintain a guarded distance from each other. Sophia’s mother tries to rekindle their friendship, but after Hadriel is introduced to Joshua Abrams, who Sophia first met when she came to America, it becomes difficult for him to see Sophia and Joshua together.

Changed. Detached. Alone. Hadriel loses himself to his insatiable appetite for passion. He embarks on a path of meaningless flings to avoid love. For love, he fears will destroy him. He later realizes that the absence of romantic love leads him to become the worst version of himself.

When unemployment looms Hadriel accepts Joshua’s offer to work together, but when Sophia answers the phone instead, they feel something stir inside them both. After the call Sophia wonders why she could not tell Hadriel about her relationship troubles with Joshua.

Each longs to reveal how much they miss their friendship, but neither dares to echo the whispers in their hearts. During their innocent encounters Sophia begins to feel differently for Hadriel. Finally, she decides to distance herself from him, lest she betray Joshua.

Joshua and Sophia resume their engagement despite the absence of romantic love. During Sophia’s absence, Hadriel crosses paths with Celeste. He allows himself to be lured along the path of desire, and she allows herself to be seduced by the hopeless romantic that teaches her about the complexities of love.

A lifetime of longing, and heartbreak, and desire leads Sophia Paula and Hadriel Alighieri on a journey that reveals what is lost in the shadows of silence. Will what they learn help them discover the innermost truths about love and friendship? Readers will find much to enjoy and much to enlighten in Felix Alexander’s The Romantic.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

I haven't bothered with Hip Hop much over the past decade, aside from underground powerhouse Immortal Technique, b/c in my opinion the tracks of the past 10 years haven't truly made a statement.

My thought has basically been, "I hear you, but what are you saying?"

Quote from the article:

"Originally, rappers emphasized luxurious lifestyles to inspire their listeners. Biggie's long list of toys on "Juicy" offered hope for those who felt trapped by poverty."

Beyond ambition, however, I've always felt strongly about message.

That's what artists do. We impart a message. We observe our world, we analyze it, and we break it down for our audience with the hope they'll gain a better understanding OF our world, and how to go about improving our place in it.

Not by entitlement.

Not by demands.

And certainly not by holding true to hypocritical, archaic, and misguided notions.

Create the moment of success.

Become it.

Seize it.

Not by engaging, or perpetuating criminal activity, but by finding your niche…honing your craft, and fueling your ambition.

The adage: "The world is yours, take it!"

We can only hope that Hip Hop & a new generation are revived by a powerful message & the messenger.

Because let's face it… all these young cats who emulate the tired image of failed rappers-past need to learn that to become your own man, you need to BE your own man, not a photocopy of someone else.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

I haven't decided if this is illogical, or the start of a paradigm shift in our collective consciousness.

On the one hand, flags have been around for centuries.

It was a means of rallying people around a symbol. It's the reason they exist in religions, too.

Every country, every religion…heck, even family sigils have been a symbol of pride and identity.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the American flag itself symbolizes racism.

People are racist. Not flags. It's an inanimate object for crying out loud!

On the other hand, however, I'm wondering about the future and how it is affected by our actions today.

For example: A long time ago the masses accepted that personal fate, weather, celestial phenomena, etc were affected by "the gods."

Then, something happened.

There was this unprecedented emergence of a new way of thinking.

Monotheism.

Two of the most famous figures in history to pose this new paradigm were Abraham, sometime in the 2nd millennium B.C.E. and later the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten about 700 years later.

Both were met with staunch opposition.

One eventually failed, and his country reverted to its pantheon of mysterious gods.

It serves to note that Akhenaten was married to Nefertiti, and his success was largely predicated on her strong will and support.

Anyhow, it took another 1,300 years before another man rose to prominence with a new way of thinking.

He cast aside teachings such as, "an eye for an eye," and told us to "love thy neighbor."

These were radical ideas in a violent world.

Again, met with fierce opposition.

Especially when he chastised the Jewish priests for taking money from believers, "for God," and threw a fit in the temple, destroying furniture and releasing goats/lambs/etc to be given back to the people. All which resulted in his arrest.

My point is, that every so often we are faced with a choice.

A choice to continue doing things as they have always been done, or to change.

We must weigh those decisions against our conscience and against our understanding of what is the best course of action as we hope to make the world…and leave it better than we found it.

If not for ourselves, but for our progeny.

Leading by example.

Is the age of segregated identity over?

Or will it soon come to an end?

Will the lowering of flags result to collecting them in museums while we shift our thinking?

Will we go from viewing each other as outsiders to seeing each other as brothers and sisters?

Will this be the paradigm shift that ensures our survival?

Because if we aren't fighting over borders and ideologies…and if we aren't being led like sheep into slaughter under the guise of patriotism, then we may actually stand together.

We may stand up for each other instead of against each other.

We may actually change the world.

What do you think? Are you up for it?

If so, then we may have to remove that bit of scripture that reads:

Leviticus 25:44-46 44 “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

Having said that, I leave you with an adage from Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

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Dear Love: Diary of a Man's Desire

About Me

Felix Alexander is a Mexican-born, American-raised novelist, and poet of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent.
Acclaimed by readers for his poetic prose, his indie releases include: Dear Love: Diary of a Man’s Desire, a collection of love letters, and poems; and The Romantic, a novel.
The release, and increasing popularity of his debut novel has earned Felix a growing audience. With the assistance of the Independent Author Network, and GoodReads, his online presence has gradually expanded across social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Authors Database, Google + andTsu.
Being third-generation military, after a grandfather and uncle who served in the Korean War and Vietnam War, respectively, Alexander is proud of his service in the U.S. Army, and grateful for his experience. After his honorable discharge, he embarked on the long and lonely journey of a writer.
Felix writes cozy and gothic mysteries, historical fantasy, MG fantasy, literary and contemporary romance.